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Want to learn more about our academic degree programs? Take a look at our Master of Divinity, Master of Arts, Master of Theology and Doctor of Ministry programs. Plus, learn about our unique Training & Mentoring program and our fully online degree options.

Being a part of our Denver Seminary community is about connection. Whether you are an alumni, donor, or friend of the Seminary, we want to stay in touch and hope you'll take part in our programs and events.

Denver Seminary has a wealth of resources that are available to current students, alumni, and the local community. Here you will find access to the Denver Journal, Engage Magazine, and the various initiatives organized by the Seminary.

The work and writing of Sir Fred Catherwood, well known in Europe in
Christian and non-Christian circles alike, deserves a much greater
press in the U.S. Eleven years the CEO of international companies, five
years chairing the British Overseas Trade Board, and fifteen years in
the European Parliament make him uniquely equipped to write on this
topic. But he is also a committed believer and a faithful Cambridge
Baptist churchgoer, who has presided over British InterVarsity and the
British Evangelical Alliance, and a humble and self-effacing person as
well.

American evangelicals too often have a very truncated understanding
of the full counsel of biblical teaching on stewardship and money
matters. Due to our unique history, we have often linked our cause to
the Republican party (whereas in the U.K. for another set of reasons
equally more historical than biblical, all but Anglican evangelicals
have typically aligned more with Labor). Neither nation has fully
recognized that faithful implementation of all the social ethics of
Scripture cuts right across traditional party platforms of both
liberals and conservatives. Catherwood brings great common sense, borne
of his experiences, to help us chart out truly biblical positions which
inevitably wind up being fairly centrist, politically speaking, across
the spectrum from "right" to "left."

Catherwood sets his various discussions in their proper historical
contexts. The work ethic (most notably associated with Calvinism and
Puritanism), democracy, and even modern science all have deep roots in
the Christian worldview. It is no coincidence that they grew up in
historically Christian societies and have not been well developed in
cultures without pervasive Christian influence. But Western Europe has
increasingly jettisoned its Christian heritage and, at least in the
public arena, the United States is following in its steps even if it
isn't as far down the same path. On the other hand, European states
have preserved some of their once more explicitly Christian
commitments--for example, to minimize unemployment because of the
inherent value and dignity of work for all human beings--than have
Americans, since we have wedded our values more to conservative (i.e.,
non-interventionist) economics than to biblical ethics.

So, too, a pervasively Christian form of capitalism once stressed
saving and giving as the primary outgrowth of making money, whereas
today even Christians in the U.S and U.K. save and give less than ever,
at least in terms of percentages of their total income. We can debate
the most effective mechanisms for producing the desired results but all
believers should put opportunities for adequate health care for all
citizens, adequate income and benefits for all workers, relief for the
victims of famine and other natural disasters, and concern about the
rape of the environment at the forefront of their social ethics.

Corruption is the single biggest reason why the so-called developing
countries often remain undeveloped or grow poorer. But the widespread
disclosure of corruption among big Western businesses, epitomized by
the Enron scandal, reflect an alarming trend in our societies, which,
if unchecked, could lead to economic decline of unprecedented
proportions even among the "developed" countries. The same is true if
those investors who do not support companies over the long haul, but
simply want to make money on each little upswing of the market by
constant selling and buying, ever come to dominate Wall Street. The
resulting instability is a recipe for economic disaster.

Separation of church and state is a good, biblical concept. While many European countries still have an established church, de facto
separation exists there, at times in an even greater way, than in
America. The church should be the primary mechanism for doing God's
work in the world, but the state should encourage rather than hinder
the church's humanitarian ventures--"looking after the homeless, the
fatherless, and the prisoners, as Christ taught" (p. 72). Conversely,
churches should support and participate in democracies, seeking
distinctively "public arena" types of arguments to support causes that
the Bible also endorses. The pro-life and pro-family movements have
largely lost the battle in this respect; things will turn around only
when the church is perceived by society as doing everything it possibly
can to provide families for unwanted children when the mothers are
willing to carry them to term and to care for AIDS victims, regardless
of the causes of their affliction. "The early Christians did not
convert the Roman empire by lobbying pagan emperors; they did it by
being such good neighbors that those living around them were impressed
by their neighborly love" (p. 86).

Catherwood's various roles enable him to speak with particularly
keen insight to the multinational world of trade laws and trends.
Equitable policies for rich and poor alike may do as much as any other
single action toward alleviating poverty and suffering worldwide, but
how often is this issue even on any evangelical's radar screen? And
even for people who (sadly) care little for folks outside America, it
ought to be alarming that from the early 1980s to the late 1990s, the
U.S. went from being the world's biggest creditor to the world's
biggest debtor. The new common currency in much of Europe, the Euro,
has largely been a boon for the economic prosperity of that continent;
sooner or later Britain and the other dissenting nations will have to
join up.

Of all the practical help that the West can give to the Two-Thirds
World, "the most effective in the long run is likely to be on-the-spot
training in the professional ethic, with its deep roots in the
Christian faith" (p. 144). But "it is a race against time because . . .
Western exports can wipe out employment in whole towns" (pp. 144-45).
The disparity between the haves and the have-nots with respect to
state-of-the-art computer technology also increases and must be
addressed.

The enormity of the problems could easily lead to pessimism, but
this is not a Christian attribute. God raised up in Scripture solitary
leaders who had profound impact on their societies, none perhaps more
dramatic than Moses. He can do it today for those with vision and a
will to act on it. A leader acting Christianly in a large company can
impact it and its clients in enormously good ways. Catherwood did it
himself and can cite others around the world who have done likewise.
But it will happen only when our understanding of the ethical issues
about which evangelical Christians should be concerned broadens
considerably.

My interest in and writing on the Bible and money matters led me to
agree to review this book, even though it is not primarily a work of
New Testament exegesis. I am not an economist and thus unable to
discern if there are subtle flaws at any point in Catherwood's analysis
of contemporary societies, though I detect no obvious ones. His
treatment of Scripture, however, both in referencing single texts and
more commonly in applying larger themes, is impeccable. This book
deserves a wide readership. It was probably deserving of being
published by someone (like, say, an Eerdmans) who would have given it
much greater circulation than it will probably achieve with Crossway.